Winter 2018 Special Issue Available

I am delighted to present this special issue of Research & Practice in Assessment dedicated to learning improvement. The invited articles in this issue, under the leadership of guest editor, Keston Fulcher, represent a commitment of thought, action, and reflection to improve student learning.

In the first article Jeanne Horst and Allison Ames provide more context regarding the need for the summit, the summit events, emerging themes, and lessons learned. In the next article Charlie Blaich and Kathy Wise provide a different type of overview. They re-visit the question: Why so much data collection and so little use in higher education? The next articles provide ideas and tools to promote learning improvement. Cynthia Crimmins and Michael Reder speak to why assessment professionals should work with faculty developers. Kristen Smith, Megan Good, and Natasha Jankowski introduce and describe a new type of higher education position: a learning improvement facilitator. Monica Stitt-Bergh, Jillian Kinzie, and I argue that higher education is accustomed to telling learning stories that emphasize assessment. We suggest a different narrative: a learning improvement story. Finally, Diane Lending, Jeremy Ezell, Jeff May, Tom Dillon, and I share a real-life example of a high-quality learning improvement report. The piece illustrates how an educational team partnered to create a much more effective learning environment. As a result, students’ interview skills improved dramatically (three standard deviations) from one year to the next.

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